Never let it be said that we're not public spirited here at Liberal Democrat Voice. So, for those of you who haven't filed your Self Assessment tax return for the year ended 5 April 2018, the deadline is just seventy-two hours away. Don't delay, don't let it peck away at you! Meanwhile, back on Planet Zog... Lib Dems: Culture in our schools system is toxic Lib Dems reject Tory Immigration Bill Ed Davey: Labour abstention on Immigration Bill "pathetic" (see here) Govt defeat in Lords shows backstop tinkering will not work Lib Dems: Britain deserves a better opposition as Labour ...

Local Government is an issue of paramount importance to Liberal Democrats. Last week in the Lords, Liberal Democrat peer Paul Scriven led a debate on the essential services that local authorities provide. He outlined how chronic underfunding of local government, combined with rising demand for services was creating unsustainable problems. Here is his speech: I am very pleased to be leading this debate because to me it is a vital issue that affects every village, every town, every city and every region: local government has a positive power to change people's lives. Just think of the older person who is ...

It's not often you get a one-word quote from a politician. "Pathetic." This was Ed Davey's reaction to the news that Labour were to abstain on the Government's Immigration Bill. This Bill ends freedom of movement, rolling out the Hostile Environment on an industrial scale to EU nationals, not just those who are already here but those we desperately need to come here and work in the future. A £30,000 salary requirement to take up a job here will obliterate our health and social care services. It is so short sighted. This Bill is brutal, inhumane and exactly what you ...

In the 1970s you could still see the junction where this line joined the Midland main line a couple of Kettering. But Wikipedia says that the last train to use the line between there and the ironstone workings at Twywell ran in 1971.

From the Daily Telegraph: A former MP, who was falsely accused of being part of a VIP paedophile ring, has won a rare libel action over comments made about him on social media. John Hemming, who was the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley between 2005 and 2014, had been accused of being part of a group that had abused children in Staffordshire in the 1980s and 1990s. His accuser, Esther Baker, waived her anonymity in 2015, to make the claims, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), later concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge him. Now Mr Hemming has ...

SPOTTED! Corbyn's backbone on Brexit. Who doesn't love a veggie fry up on Saturday? Still, probably time it was standing up to Theresa May and her botched Brexit by giving the people the final say on the deal. Tell Corbyn to back a people's vote now > https://t.co/70T7fUD95D pic.twitter.com/kQicjIM7oV— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) January 26, 2019"What did you think of the Jeremy Corbyn's backbone meme?" asks Liberal Democrat Voice. Like most of the people who have left comments there, my answer is "Not much." I am all in favour of using humour in campaigning, but it has to be done well. ...

Another chance to see the heartstring-grabbingly brilliant Party Political Broadcast which highlights what matters to Liberal Democrats and how those who seek to divide us will never win. The voiceover is by Hazel Grove candidate Lisa Smart. Enjoy.

Tomorrow I am at a conference about how we transition young people with mental health problems from their youth status into the adult mental health system. I'll be speaking in part of it and chairing another part of. This Conference, ... Continue reading →

Second paragraph of third chapter ("the Fourth Morning"):We know each other by now. Plus we don't have the time for formalities, I'm afraid.I got a little thrown at the very start of this book when it became clear that the narrator's name is Balram, a variant form of Balarāma, the elder brother of Krishna. That was also the name of the house in south Dublin where my grandfather lived with his second wife, my godmother, when I was a child (my grandmother died very young and he remarried). I guess I had never really thought about its meaning - it's ...

We may not have got much credit for it in the polls, but the growth of the People's Vote Campaign is a Lib Dem success story. Our policy broke into the mainstream, caused a march of 700,000 people, and gained supporters from every major Party (other than UKIP, that would be weird.) The reason for the growing popularity of the People's Vote is because - I believe – the central argument for it is compelling, and goes something like this: Britain voted for a departure but not a destination. We now have a much clearer idea of what Brexit would ...

South Central Region Liberal Democrats, in conjunction with Winchester Lib Dems (scorers of one of the best unsung results at the 2017 election), is organising a Day of Anti-Brexit Action on Saturday 9 February. It's great to see this sort of imaginative break from the formulaic mix of party meetings and action days, as the day will involve a morning round of training followed by a rally and a march in Winchester. The exact political focus of this march will depend on where we are on the political agenda at that point – ask Theresa May! We might be demanding ...

I've been reminded to post this by seeing it recced on twitter today. And yeah, I know, I've put this in linkspam a couple of times, and you probably think I am just wanging on about it because it's by my friend. And sure, there's probably an element of that. But if you are a music geek? Even you're even vaguely interested in music? You really need to listen to this podcast. Andrew has SUCH an ear for detail, and brings in so many things that are not standard analysis, but are so interesting. And he's got a comfortingly Scouse-ish ...

We seldom consider the view of British politics from beyond our shores, something even Liberal Democrats are poor at. So, here's a perspective from someone whose view matters, regardless of what his opponents might say... Guy Verhofstadt has written for Project Syndicate on what he sees as being necessary for Britain to move beyond Brexit. He starts with a précis of the current position; The populist revolts in the United States and the United Kingdom have each reached a critical juncture. At the start of his third year in office, US President Donald Trump is presiding over the longest federal ...

Sun, 12:23: I cast the first vote in this, for Cartmel. Warhead & Warlock both great fun. As for Saward, Slipback novelisation... https://t.co/LFJF3l45Kf Sun, 16:00: RT @Sime0nStylites: The gaping flaw in this argument is that the Government has already agreed to the backstop! https://t.co/pQ0KZAluJA Sun, 16:11: If. https://t.co/rfDt9fmefa Sun, 16:13: Blue Box Boy, by Matthew Waterhouse https://t.co/EGQYRtSO6t Sun, 17:19: RT @MatthewOToole2: If the backstop is 'our guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland' (PM's words), how does does one describe a surrept... Sun, 17:26: RT @DavidHenigUK: Ok, let's run the Brexit negotiation with the EU after Tuesday, if Parliament has ...

I'm annoyed (*) to report that I've now felt driven to start my own no deal Brexit stockpile. I don't trust the government, nor at least two-thirds of Derby's MPs (one Conservative, one Labour, both...Continue Reading The post The Death of Grass: Brexit preppers appeared first on ten pence piece.

The Liverpool Echo has the article (with the rather over-optimistic headline?) on its website – see link below:- I've posted about this long talked about reopening project before – here's a link to my previous blog:- The trouble with railway wish list projects like this is that they rarely move forward and what about the price tag – est £50m – for the new station! How on earth do we manage to get such a huge price tag for a new railway station? There must be something wrong with how railway infrastructure is procured in the UK?

I blogged nearly four weeks ago on why the World Trade Organisation offers no solutions to our Brexit problem, so it is helpful to see this article in the Guardian, which adds some further thoughts to the theme. They quote two European Union law specialists as arguing that the UK will be unable to have frictionless, tariff-free trade under World Trade Organization rules for up to seven years in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The lawyers argue that the ensuing chaos could double food prices and plunge Britain into a recession that could last up to 30 years: There ...

The First-Past-The-Post system makes the House of Commons outrageously unrepresentative. Most votes are wasted since they are not reflected in the outcome. The Commons is dominated by party loyalists with their group-think. Citizens are constrained to engage in tactical voting – in other words, to choose the least bad option or vote to keep a [...] The post We have never needed my 'fuzzy democracy' as much as now appeared first on Radix.

Alright, so I've written some fine words about social media, which rather means that I ought to practice as I preach. And it dawns on me that I can dredge up something that I had experimented with in the past, i.e. hyper local reporting. My life is multi-faceted. Whilst I am discouraged from talking about my work, for what are probably good reasons (despite the fact that I am surveyed by my employer each year, asking amongst other things whether or not I am proud to tell people that I work for it), the rest of my public existence is ...

The latest episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up! We're getting to music that people might be more familiar with, now, and this one is on "Money Honey" by the Drifters. (I do ... Continue reading →